China Shakes the World
A balanced and very readable account of China’s metamorphosis from Maoism into the workshop of the world. China Shakes the World is an excellent book, far more useful and sensible than most business bestsellers or the majority of general introductions to modern China. — Read the complete FT review
Synopsis
The new China, the nation that in 25 years has changed beyond all recognition, is becoming an industrial powerhouse for the world. James Kynge shows not only the extraordinary rise of the Chinese economy, but what the future holds as China begins to influence the world.
On the eve of the British industrial revolution some 230 years ago, China accounted for one third of the global economy. In 1979, after 30 years of Communism, its economy contributed only two per cent to global GDP. Now it is back up to five per cent, and rising. Although China is already a palpable force in the world, its re-emergence is only just starting to be felt.
Kynge shows China’s weaknesses – its environmental pollution, its crisis in social trust, its weak financial system and the faltering institutions of its governments – which are poised to have disruptive effects on the world. The fall-out from any failure in China’s rush to modernity or simply from a temporary economic crash in the Chinese economy would be felt around the world.
